Call centers are gaining increasing significance in the considerable expansion of communication capabilities currently taking place. As a rule, such a call center has a call distribution device via which incoming calls are switched to a multiplicity of so-called agents who or which process the incoming calls. As a rule, agents are persons, but they also can be other information sources such as a database, a voice dialog system, a voice response device, recorded announcement machines or fax machines. Call centers can be used in many different ways; e.g., for customer service by telephone or for other services which can be provided by telephone.
A call distribution device of a call center is frequently called an ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) unit. Such a call distribution device essentially has the task of accepting the incoming calls and either forwarding them to a free agent or, if no agent is available, entering the call into a waiting loop.
Up to date call centers frequently have an interactive voice dialog or voice response device which accepts an incoming call in order to interrogate the caller for inquiry information on the purpose or the type of intended inquiry. Such a voice dialog device is frequently called an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) device. Such inquiry information can specify, for example, a certain process, task, agent, a request or a serving or processing category. Such inquiry information is frequently called ticket number. Depending on the inquiry information interrogated, the incoming call is subsequently switched to an agent responsible for the specified inquiry.
According to the prior art, if no responsible agent is currently available after the interrogation of an inquiry information item, the caller must remain in a waiting loop until a responsible agent becomes available. Since the waiting takes place with the connection established, call charges are continuously incurred during the waiting time and, as a rule, debited to the caller. In addition, existing connections in the waiting state occupy information data channels and other system resources of the call center in a nonproductive manner.
It is an object of the present invention, therefore, to specify a method for call distribution in a call center which permits incoming calls to be distributed more efficiently. It is also an object of the present invention to specify a call distribution apparatus for implementing the method according to the present invention.